HYDRODYNAMIC TILTING PAD JOURNAL BEARING WITH AUTOMATIC CONTROL

Hydrodynamic three tilting-pad journal bearing is analyzed in the paper. It is shown that, when assembling that type of not controlled bearing, it is impossible to obtain a small clearance between the pad and the journal at high frequency of journal rotation. In a static state, i.e. when the journal is immobile, such a bearing should be assembled with a large interference between the pads and the journal in order to guarantee the small clearance at rotation. At start, when the hydrodynamic lubricating wedges between the pads and journal are absent, the bearing would work with dry friction, resulting in quick wear of pads and high load of the drive motor. Apart of that, it is impossible to control the power consumption and temperature regime neither for idle nor for working rotation of the journal. The proposed automatic control gives a possibility to regulate the clearance between the pads and the journal by measuring and controlling the axial force of the pad load, and in such a way to improve work conditions of the bearing.